The Mishras Bios
The Mishra's are father and son Sitar masters from Varanasi (Benares), India. Pandit Shivnath Mishra and son Deobrat Mishra travel the world for part of the year touring and performing Indian Classical Music. In Varanasi, India, they run the Academy of Indian Classical Music
You can view the Mishra's website at Music of Benares. On this site you will find information about their tour dates, a detailed family history, information on Varanasi, India and much more information.
Pandit Shivnath Mishra
Pandit Shivnath Mishra was born into a well-known musical family in the Benares Gharana (lineage) in 1943. When he was five years old he began studying vocal music with his father Badri Prashad Mishra and his uncle and Guru Pandit Mahadev Prashad Mishra. From the age of eight and onwards he switched to sitar from vocals. In a family of great classical Indian vocalists he was the first who mastered the sitar. He plays in a singing style called “Thumri”. Only a few sitar artists can perform in this style, which is characterized by its strong emphasis on ornamentation and deep emotion.
In 1966 he received a gold medal in the All India Music Conference in Calcutta. He performed in Germany for the first time in 1979 and has since played extensively throughout Europe. His first performance in North America was in 1999, and he and his virtuoso son Debu have performed a North American tour every summer since.
Pandit Shivnath Mishra is one of the world’s premiere sitar masters, and well-known and respected on All India radio and television. He has performed with many of India’s great musicians including Kishan Maharaj, Shamta Prashad, Nankoo Maharaj, Lacchu Maharaj (all tabla players of great reknown), and Ashish Khan(sarod player). He has also performed with several international jazz artists such as John Handy, Paul Horn, David Freezen, and Ben Conrad.
He served as the head of the Music Department at the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi, India for many years. Presently, he and his son Debu teach at their Academy of Indian Classical Music they established in Varanasi in 2006 when not touring worldwide. They will be teaching again in North America in May of 2010 at Selkirk College in Nelson, B.C. Canada.
Deobrat Mishra
Deobrat Mishra has a prominent place among young sitar players in India and worldwide. Selectivity, melody, and rhythmic complexity are typical features in his playing style.
Born in 1976, he represents the seventh generation of the Benares Gharana. As a young child he studied tabla with his mother Pramila Mishra, who is the granddaughter of the well known tabla player Baiju Mishra. He started studying vocal music with his father at the age of five, and began his sitar lessons a year later. That same year, after only six months studying and practicing sitar, he gave his first public performance on stage. Five years later at the age of eleven he performed for the first time on All India Radio.
Since 1994 he has toured throughout Europe with his father. In that same year he was chosen to receive the award of the best young sitar player in India. Later, in 2000 he received the Jewels of Sound award in Mumbai. More recently, Debu received a Masters Degree in Sitar from the Prayag Sangit Samiti in Allahabad.
His many projects include teaching with his father at the musical academy in Varanasi, world touring with his father, solo performances for radio and television, and world music with Indian and European artists.